So it shouldn't matter whether you get going before or after The Merge, but you will probably be better off the earlier you get started. On that note, you should dip a toe in Ethereum's waters as soon as you are able, and double down on your investment when prices are low.
Despite swapping out proof-of-work, the entire history of Ethereum since genesis remained intact and unaltered by the transition to proof-of-stake. Any funds held in your wallet before The Merge are still accessible after The Merge. No action is required to upgrade on your part.
ETH Supply Declines
money, nearly 650,000 ETH has been burned since the merge. In the same time span, just under 424,000 new ETH have been minted. The result is a net supply change of around -226,000 ETH. As a percentage of the total supply, the numbers represent a decrease of 0.213% or 0.285% annualized.
After The Merge, Ethereum's miners will be replaced by stakers, who lock up ETH for the right to validate transactions. In doing so, The Merge is expected to reduce energy usage on the network by more than 99.5%. Additionally, The Merge lays the foundation for future upgrades planned for Ethereum.
Whether Ethereum will experience similar returns again is uncertain. But since its price is two and a half times lower than its 2021 peak, investing in it at a bargain price is worth considering. Even if it doesn't see momentous returns, approaching its all-time high again could bring significant yield.
For 2022-3 in general, we think recession risks pose a risk to ETH and so now might not be the best time to buy ethereum if you have a medium-term outlook. We think ethereum is a good long-term investment for the next one to three years and are bullish overall. That means we expect prices to rise in the long term.
Conclusion: Yes, Ethereum Can Reach $100K
The main reasons behind this are the increasing use of Ethereum in the world of digital bonds, real estate, and government and central bank usage of the blockchain network on a state level.
Ahead of a years-in-the-making upgrade to the ethereum blockchain, the token ether has been outperforming bitcoin in 2022 by a wide margin. The so-called merge will result in much more energy-efficient transactions. Some market experts say the real upside price momentum is set to come after the merge.
The Merge will change Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, making it more environmentally friendly and scalable. This upgrade may result in Ethereum becoming more widely adopted and reduce the supply, potentially increasing the price of Ethereum.
“Many believe that the Merge might make Ethereum faster or cheaper. This is not the case. For end users or developers there should be no noticeable difference between Ethereum before and after the Merge,” Will Harborne, founder and CEO of the rhino.fi protocol, told CoinDesk.
The short answer? You do not have to do anything as an ETH owner to prepare your wallet or your tokens for the Merge. The Merge will actually mean no change for your tokens. Before we go into more details about the (non) effects of the Merge on your ETH, let's briefly dive into what the Merge is.
If the Merge succeeds, it will represent a massive feat of engineering and human coordination. If it fails, it risks wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in value (ether's market cap is close to $200 billion, and many other valuable tokens are built on top of the network).
The Biggest Drawback of The Merge (No Talks About)
Firstly, the proof-of-stake is a newer mechanism and has not been fully tested as Buterin said in the conference that the upgrade will only be about 55% complete after the merge. The fully capable Eth 2 will take place some time in 2023.
So it shouldn't matter whether you get going before or after The Merge, but you will probably be better off the earlier you get started. On that note, you should dip a toe in Ethereum's waters as soon as you are able, and double down on your investment when prices are low.
The Ethereum community hoped its price might go up after the upgrade, but it tanked over 10 per cent, blamed on bad timing, as the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped just two days before the merge, leading to broader crypto selloffs in the market.
Unlike the classic Ethereum, which could handle only 15 transactions per second, Ethereum 2.0 is much more efficient, completing up to 100,000 transactions each second. To give you a better idea, think of the older Ethereum blockchain as a very busy highway with just one lane.
According to a projection by VanEck, the Ethereum (ETH) price could skyrocket to $51,000 by 2030 if there's another crypto bull market. The prediction is based on Ethereum (ETH) becoming accepted across various industry sectors, such as finance, healthcare, and insurance.
If the Merge fails, it would be catastrophic for the Ethereum community. However, this negative outcome is highly unlikely due to the extensive amount of testing the network has undergone over the past months.
With the bull market expected to start in 2024, our 2025 Ethereum price prediction estimates a price of $7,630. While long-term price predictions are more difficult to make, we believe Ethereum could break the 10K mark in 2030, with the average price for our 2030 Ethereum forecast at $9,800.
As per the recent technical charts, in 2023, the Ethereum might stay in the comfortable range between $1,800-$1,900. The currency might face its resistance at $1,760 and see the lowest level of $1,600. The average trading price is expected to be around $1,880.75 with the potential return on investment (RoI) of 5%.
Ethereum Unlikely to Hit $10k Mark in 2023 – Turn Your Focus toward WSM, a New Altcoin with 20X Gain Potential. While the vast majority of experienced crypto investors in the industry believe that Ethereum is bound to reach the $10,000 mark at some point, not many have faith anymore that it will happen in 2023.
Ethereum (ETH) – Overall The Best Next Cryptocurrency to Explode in 2023. Ripple (XRP) – Next Crypto To Explode With 10X Growth Potential in 2023. ApeCoin (APE) – Top Pick for the Most Promising Altcoin To Explode. Binance Coin (BNB) – Next Crypto to Explode Among Exchange Based Coins.
So far, ethereum prices are up more than 50% in 2023. Still, additional upside in the year's second half will likely depend on the outlook for monetary policy, further clarity on the crypto regulation front and the growth of decentralized applications, or dApps, on ethereum's programmable blockchain.
The second half may bring more hope for the market, however, as signs of global economic recovery become apparent. Analysts believe this will finally push Ethereum back over the $2,000 mark after almost a year. The second half of 2023 will continue this trend with the token expected to rise to an average of $2,300.
The Ethereum Merge refers to Ethereum's transition from a proof-of-work consensus mechanism to one that uses proof of stake, resulting in a 99.95 percent drop in energy consumption. Tech blog Digiconomist equated the energy savings to Finland shutting down its entire energy grid.